BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

JohnHowardReid George Sanders (Simon Templar/The Boss), Helene Whitney (Anne Bitts), Thomas W. Ross (Professor Bitts), Jonathan Hale (Inspector Fernack), Bela Lugosi (Partner), Donald MacBride (Chief Bohlen), John F. Hamilton (Limpy), Elliott Sullivan (Monk), Pat O'Malley (express man), Byron Foulger (receiver), Donald Kerr (card player), Stanley Blystone (Detective Sadler), Ralph Dunn (uniformed policeman at final round- up), William Haade (Dutchman), Walter Miller (Mac, the bartender), Jack O'Shea (pedestrian), Lee Phelps (police sergeant at Bohlen's office), Lal Chand Mehra (Cairo express clerk), Pat McKee (card player), Edward Gargan (turnkey), Sammy Stein (policeman). Director: JACK HIVELY. Screenplay: Ben Holmes. Based on characters created by Leslie Charteris. Photography: J. Roy Hunt. Film editor: Theron Warth. Art director: Van Nest Polglase, Albert S. D'Agostino. Music composed and directed by Roy Webb. Special effects: Vernon L. Walker. Costumes designed by Renié. Assistant director: Doran Cox. Production executive: Lee Marcus. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell, jr. RCA Sound System. Producer: Cliff Reid.Copyright 26 January 1940 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 12 February 1940. U.S. release: 26 January 1940. Australian release: 28 March 1940. 6,215 feet. 68 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A look-alike gangster plants the Saint's card at several murders.NOTES: Number four of the nine-picture "The Saint" series. Film debut of socialite, Helene Whitney.PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: George Sanders has a dual role in which he confronts himself through a clever use of the process screen.COMMENT: Unlike other actors who embarked upon dual roles, Mr. Sanders has chosen not to differentiate his performances. It's impossible to tell one character from the other. Both have the same accent and mannerisms; the same walk; they even dress the same way.Halfway through, one of the characters tells us that he can tell the look-alikes apart because they are wearing different suits. By this time, however, the rest of us are all hopelessly confused. And anyway, who's looking at suits? They seem to be identically designed, though they do have a different pattern or shade.Fortunately, other members of the cast try to make up for Mr. Sander's lapse, particularly Jonathan Hale as the ambivalent detective, John F. Hamilton as a lopsided crook, and the lovely Miss Whitney as the star-crossed heroine. Fans of Bela Lugosi, however, are likely to be very disappointed. Mr. Lugosi not only has very little to do, but the few scenes he shares with such distinguished players as Lal Chand Mehra, he handles in a spiritless and surprisingly low-key fashion. Lively's (sorry, Hively's) direction is anything but.

TheLittleSongbird While some are better than others, pretty much all of the Saint films starring George Sanders are watchable at least once, even the lesser efforts. 'The Saint's Double Trouble' is a contender for the weakest of the series, and somewhat of a let-down after one of the best of the series with 'The Saint Takes Over'.There are good things here. The sets are suitably atmospheric, it is one of the better looking films of the series and jauntily scored. The best thing about the film is Sanders, not just playing the title role but also his criminal double. He is super-suave, sophisticated and wonderfully caddish, while also giving a charming and humorous edge and delivering some cutting lines with aplomb.Jonathan Hale is also very good, while the ending is effective.On the other hand, the script is a complete mess and is enough to bring the film down more than one notch. It is just too underdeveloped and has too many loose ends, with a lot of corn and very little mystery. The story is also one of the series' least involving, it fails to maintain momentum and gets needlessly over-complicated with very few twists and turns.It is interesting for featuring Bela Lugosi, who tries to depart from his horror roles to prove that he could do more than that. However he makes very little impact in a role with nothing to it whatsoever, a real waste. The characters are just not interesting at all and sometimes confusingly written.In summary, a contender for weakest of the Saint films with Sanders. Sanders and Hale are fine but the script and story certainly aren't and bring the film down significantly. 5/10 Bethany Cox

bkoganbing George Sanders, in fact two George Sanders, arrive in the City of Brotherly Love to investigate a nice little diamond smuggling racket. But what a place to smuggle diamonds, in the sarcophagus of a long dead Egyptian mummy. What interests Simon Templar however is the fact that the head of the racket is a dead ringer for him and also played by George Sanders. He might well be responsible for the unsavory reputation the Saint has in some quarters.Jonathan Hale as Inspector Fernack is in from New York and as the most authoritative expert on the activities of Simon Templar is drafted by the Philadelphia police in the person of Donald MacBride. In fact Fernack knows of a telltale scar on the wrist of the real Templar and can tell them apart. That fact proves most handy.Bela Lugosi has an inexplicably small role as 'the partner' in the smuggling activities. I'm betting the editors at RKO probably left a lot of Lugosi on the cutting room floor. The film would have been better had Lugosi been left in.As it is it's an OK B programmer and a plus for fans of Leslie Charteris's modern Robin Hood.

MartinHafer One reviewer said this film is strictly for fans of the series and I tend to agree, though non-fans could still watch it and enjoy it if they aren't overly critical of the film's silly plot. Now as for me, I love old B-detective series films and don't mind the silliness too much--after all, if you think too much, films about Charlie Chan, Boston Blackie and the like are pretty tough to believe. Suspending disbelief and just enjoying them for the fun of it is definitely how you need to approach most of these films. In a way, they were like the modern detective TV show (such as "Murder She Wrote" or "Columbo")--predictable, sure, but still engaging.This film starts off pretty well, as we see that one of the supporting characters is Bela Lugosi--that's a definite plus. However, a bit later, the silliness of the plot becomes very apparent when viewers are expected to believe that there is an exact double of Simon Templer AND this double is evil and wanted by the police. Additionally, Lugosi isn't really given much to do and is wasted. Also, considering how famous Templer is supposed to be, don't you think the cops would have realized the crook was an exact double for Templer a long time before? While "The Patty Duke Show" and other TV shows and movies have given us the concept of identical doubles, this is just silly and impossible to believe. Now had this double deliberately gotten plastic surgery to make himself look like Templer, this COULD have been a decent plot idea (like was done in a classic episode of "Hawaii 5-0"), but we are to assume that they are exact in every way (including accent)--all by chance!!Additionally, late in the film, the conclusion becomes WAY TOO COMPLICATED. Templer COULD have easily exposed the double and wrapped everything up well--but then he dresses like a lady and gets himself to switch places with the phony! This just made no sense at all and seemed like padding. Also, leads like the mummy, the knife blade and the ring are never really developed--like the script was still in need of a re-write.While I always like the Saint movies, I do have to admit that this is one of the worst due to the writing. No matter how hard George Sanders tries to carry the film, it sinks beneath plot holes and I could see non-fans of the genre disliking the film if they can't ignore all the problems with the plot. Fun but flawed.